Victoria in February 2007 Hot and Dry

Summary

Victoria has experienced a generally hot and dry February with prolonged periods between rainfall events. The Gippsland area received very heavy rainfall on the final day of the month. A prolonged hot spell during the middle of the month saw temperatures exceed the mid to high 30 degree mark for 3 to 4 days across most of the State. A stagnant trough system was responsible for the prolonged period of humid conditions experienced in the second half of the month. This system was responsible for a number of thunderstorms across various parts of the State.

Melbourne Summary

Melbourne’s average maximum temperature for February was 29.0 deg C (3.0 deg C above average). The average minimum temperature for February was 18.3 deg C (2.7 deg C above average). Melbourne had four consecutive days when the maximum temperature exceeded 35.0 deg C (15th 35.3, 16th 37.2, 17th 37.4 & 18th 38.5). The last time at least 4 consecutive days above 35 deg C occurred in February was from 15th to 19th Feb 1968. February’s rainfall total of 13.2 mm was well below the February average of 45.8 mm. There was a prolonged period of humid conditions during the second half of the month with tropical like conditions being experienced in Melbourne.

Rainfall

Overall the majority of the State experienced average rainfall including the Mallee, Wimmera, Lower/Upper North, Northeast and Western Plains Districts, whilst the West and North Central area experienced below average rainfall, and the West Coast recorded very much below average rainfall.

However, despite some average to below average rainfall figures recorded throughout most of the State, East and West Gippsland Districts had significant falls recorded on the 11th & 28th. Genoa recorded 110.4 mm on the 11th, whilst Cabbage Tree 93.0 mm, Orbost 87.6 mm, and Mt. Nowa Nowa 71.2 mm received heavy falls on the 28th.

The wettest overall was 242.6 mm at Genoa, and the driest overall was 2.0 mm at Cape Nelson Lighthouse, followed by 2.0 mm at Walpeup Research.

Maximum temperature

Maximum temperatures for February 2007throughout the State were 1 to 3 degrees Celsius warmer than the average. The Mallee, South Wimmera and Lower/Upper North Districts experienced temperatures in excess of 3 degrees above average, with Mildura recording the highest temperature for the month of 42.8 degrees Celsius on the 5th.

The lowest maximum temperature for the month was at Mt. Baw Baw recording 11.0 degrees Celsius on the 27th, and Weeaproinah recording 13.8 degrees Celsius on the 7th.

Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at
10 am on Thursday 1 March 2007.
Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change
as new information becomes available.

Normals are long-term means based on observations from
the years 1961 to 1990.
They are not shown for sites with less than 20 years of record in that time, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median
is sometimes more representative than the
mean
of "normal" rain.

The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site,
based on the
decile ranking
(very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3,
normal in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9
and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of normal shows how much rain has fallen this time as a
percentage of the long-term mean.